Displaced Persons -

DP Camps in Egypt

El 'Arish

El Shatt,on the Red Sea

Dear Olga.

I spend five years in a refugee
camp in El Shatt, Egypt, east of Suez
Canal on hot desert sand living in tents.
There were 29,000 refugees mostly from Croatia (Yugoslavia). After World War II
in 1945, most of them returned to their homes. About
4,000 of refugees did not returned due to political
reasons and continued to stay there
until November 1948. Is there any history or
information on a refugee camp El-Shatt, Egypt? I would
like to write, so my children can have some information how
I ended in this part of the world. If there is any information
anywhere please
let me know . Thank
You very much. Joe Talaich joe@talaich.com

"We settled in a Displaced Persons' camp in El 'Arish,
Egypt in 1945. I was eight years old. The huts were brick, white washed,
and the sand was so beautiful. There was a school there as well.
We were here for three years, living in huge desert tents; there were four
families living in our tent.

"From El 'Arish we were sent to another Displaced Persons'
camp called El
'Shatt near the Suez Canal. We were here for three years,
living in huge desert tents; there were four
families living in our tent. The desert tents had seven
linings to keep out the cold night air but because we did not have
any money to buy clothes we would take one of the linings off and
make shorts or a skirt. There was always someone with a sewing machine!
The bamboo reeds that held the walls up, they were covered in a soft,
sock like fabric. We would take the covering and pull it apart and
use this to embroider, knit jumpers or crochet pillow covers, doilies
or collars.

In refugee camps in Italy and in El Shatt, Egypt where
an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 died. ... A 1945 report concerning war
crimes in Kastav near the city of ... [New link not available - check Library of Congress]